The Matador Dropped His Cape
by Songstone
Summary: Kakuzu had never dropped Itachi during a dance before, practice or not. This is the first--and hopefully last--time. Oh well. At least Kakuzu apologized... -AU KakuIta. Brain breakage if you aren't careful-


**The Matador Dropped His Cape**

**...I WROTE A KAKU/ITA THINGY. 8D I didn't have a title for this at all. xD;; So I made THAT up. Because the man is the bull fighter in the Paso Doble, and the woman is like his cape. -admits to watching Dancing With The Stars while writing this- xDD**

**And yes, I made Itachi female in this one, just for kicks. No whining, please. 8D**

**..::..  
**

The loud _thud_ echoed quite loudly inside of the studio; a heavy sound as someone had tried to catch their balance and eventually hit the ground rather harshly.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry."

"I don't believe you dropped me!"

"_Sorry_."

"No, you aren't."

Kakuzu sighed. "My grip slipped, Itachi. Did you hurt yourself?"

The Uchiha sighed, pushing the leg-warmer on her left leg off before she went to rub at her ankle tenderly. "I think...I just sprained it. Get me an ice pack, would you?"

With a short nod, the brunette went to the opposite side of the studio, where the small freezer was plugged against the wall. He rummaged inside of it, finding a small bag of ice near the back. He pulled it out, shut the fridge door, and made his way back to Itachi, wrapping a small cloth around the bag.

"Do you think you need to get it checked by a doctor?" Kakuzu questioned as he knelt besides the young woman, gently placing the ice pack onto her ankle for her.

Itachi winced from the contact, then shook her head, laying her hand over Kakuzu's; she pushed it aside and held the pack in place on her own. "No, I'll be fine. Ow, it hurts..." She bit her lower lip.

Kakuzu snorted, wiping his wrist beneath his bangs. The sweat on his forehead wet his hair, pushing it up a bit from the front, out of the way of his eyes. "You could have twisted it. You won't be able to compete like this." He warned.

Itachi glared up at him with cold, red eyes. "Well, if _someone_ didn't have _butterfingers_..."

"Don't start that."

"Well, if you hadn't dropped me, I wouldn't have landed wrong."

"It was an _accident_, woman!"

"You've never had an 'accident' before!"

"Well, maybe there was just too much _strain_ on my arms."

Itachi gasped, her mouth agape. "Are you saying I've gained weight?"

Realizing his mistake there, Kakuzu took a moment to rethink his argument. He was very good about keeping his cool, at least. "No."

"Then what the hell did _that_ mean?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, reaching behind himself to fix the ponytail on the back of his neck. He sighed, shaking his head in defeat. "Nothing, forget I said it... Now, come on. Go take a break." He instructed, holding out a hand to the woman to help her up.

Still not looking appeased, Itachi eventually sighed through her nose and grabbed onto Kakuzu's hand. The man pulled her to her feet with little problem and helped her as she limped her way to the side of the room, where a small folding chair awaited her.

As soon as she was seated, Kakuzu knelt in front of her once more, and gently lifted her left leg a bit, to examine her ankle. "Ow...ow, ow!" Itachi complained as soon as the brunette had tried to move her foot in a simple up and down motion.

"You probably _did_ twist it..." Kakuzu muttered, lowering the other's leg once more. "Does it really hurt you that bad?"

Chewing on her lower lip, hating to admit it, Itachi slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, it does..." She lowered her eyes to her ankle, glaring down at it as if she could will it to repair itself. "I won't be able to dance at the competition..." She grumbled in disappointment.

"No, you wouldn't be ready for it in just three days. You'll need to take more time to let your leg heal."

The raven haired girl groaned, crossing her arms over her chest in aggravation. "I have to drop out..." She sighed, clearly upset about it. Itachi didn't have a lot of activities that she honestly loved to do; ballroom dancing had been the only one, and now she couldn't even do that.

Kakuzu reached up to pat her on the side of her arm. "We can always enter next year." He assured her, pushing himself up from the floor. He grabbed another folding chair, straightening it out so that he could sit.

Itachi snorted. "Well, _I_ can. You can still participate." She 'hmm'd from the back of her throat, thinking for a moment. "You could always ask Deidara to take my place; she's a quick learner. Or Konan..."

Green eyes lifted from the floor, up to Itachi. They narrowed in thought. "...What the hell are you talking about, kid?" The man questioned, an eyebrow hitched.

Itachi blinked at him in a bored fashion. "My replacement. Either Deidara or Konan would be more than happy to take my place, I'm sure..."

Kakuzu snorted, then gave a light chuckle, shaking his head. "I'm not getting a replacement."

The Uchiha blanched, her arms unfolding from over her chest. "What? Why not?" She asked, gesturing in confusion. "We can't let it all go to waste! We've trained for _months_ on this Paso Doble, Kakuzu."

"That's exactly why I'm not getting a replacement. Because _we_," he gestured between himself and Itachi. "trained for it. Not me and Deidara, or Konan."

The woman just stared at Kakuzu for a moment, the irritated expression on her face smoothing out slowly. She rested her hands back in her lap. "...I still think it's a waste." She huffed at last.

Kakuzu snorted in laughter again, then just shook his head. "It's not. The only thing being wasted if I danced with a replacement would be the great choreography. They wouldn't have as much practice with it as you."

The Uchiha's lips lifted slightly at the corners. She had choreographed their entire dance, and was flattered at the compliment.

"Besides, you and I have...chemistry." The brunette continued with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

"Chemistry..." Itachi repeated under her breath. She 'hmm'd again and looked to her lap, folding her hands over one another absently.

"Yeah." Kakuzu nodded. "Our Paso was hot. Sexy. Passionate. It'll be hard to dance it with someone else. I'd have to fake the whole part about being in love with them."

"Hn. I guess--" She paused, a crease forming in between her eyes as her eyebrows knitted together. She straightened, looking over at her partner. "...You'd have to fake being in love when dancing with me, too."

"You think so?" The brunette gave a lopsided kind of grin. "I'm not _that_ good of an actor, Itachi."

The Uchiha suddenly felt very warm. Mostly around her cheeks and nose. Maybe...she was blushing? That was near impossible; Uchiha's didn't..._blush_.

Finally, she recovered enough to remember her calm demenor, and gave a short scoff. "So you mean to say that you're in love with me?"

"Pretty much."

"Hm." Itachi slowly nodded her head, though she didn't know what the gesture was for.

Thankfully, Kakuzu didn't seem to mind. He did lean over and lay his hand on the woman's knee, however.

Tensing up beneath his hand, Itachi's eyes shifted down to the point of contact before flitting back up to the man's face. He was leaned in closer than she remembered, and was inching even further towards her.

The kiss was short and quick; just a simple touch of Kakuzu's lips to Itachi's cheek. But at the area that the man had put his mouth on, Itachi's skin heated up again. This time, the heat went over her cheeks, nose, and was even bold enough to be touching her ears.

Oh yeah. _That_ was a blush.

"Sorry I dropped you." The brunette said softly, speaking into Itachi's ear.

The woman repressed a shudder at his breath tickling her outer ear. She nodded faintly, meaning to say 'it's okay' but not being able to get the words out comfortably.

Kakuzu chuckled, patting Itachi's knee lightly. He pulled his hand away after another moment, and leaned away from the Uchiha again, breaking off all forms of bodily contact, to which Itachi was grateful.

"I'll go get someone up here to take care of your ankle." Kakuzu informed the woman. He stood up from his chair, turned, and headed for the exit of the studio. "I'll be right back."

"...Yeah. Sure." Itachi forced herself to nod, jerkily.

The brunette just grinned at her and shouldered his way outside of the studio.

Itachi was just about to relax into her chair and try to force this blush off of herself, when the door creaked back open after a few seconds, and Kakuzu poked his head back inside of the room.

"So, Uchiha." He began, casual as ever. "After you get taken care of, I'll drive you home. I can order us some dinner and we can just hang out if you want."

The woman just blinked at him for a good three or four seconds. Kakuzu was offering to buy her dinner? He hated to spend money unless it was a dire kind of situation. Clearing her throat to stall some time, Itachi gave a small nod of the head. "O...okay." She nodded, firmer.

"Cool." And with that, Kakuzu left the room again. This time, Itachi heard his footsteps echo away from their studio as he left to get a medic.

**..::..**

**I might do another one of these dancing stories...they're cute. 8D**

**Maybe I'll do one where Itachi is a boy, later. But AU only. I don't see KakuIta working out in Narutoverse. xD**

ANYWAY.

Enjoy? 8D 


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